Rules of engagement

Statistics Canada reserves the right to edit, refuse or remove any post, question or comment that does not comply with the rules listed below. Users acting contrary to these rules may be temporarily or permanently excluded from Statistics Canada's social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit) or its online discussion platforms (Chat with an Expert, StatCan Blog, Question of the Month).

Be respectful

Your username, post, question and/or comment must not contain:

profanity or discrimination on the basis of, for example, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, or sexual orientation;

text written in all capital letters, which can be difficult to read and might be interpreted as yelling.

Be accountable

Your post, question and/or comment must be:

relevant to Statistics Canada or the subject matter of the discussion topics;

in either English or French;

coherent and intelligible;

original (it cannot be excerpted from another source);

without announcement from labour or political organizations;

without reference to any commercial activity such as advertising or publicity;

considerate of your privacy and the privacy of others (do not include your phone number or email address in your post, question and/or comment).

Be patient

Statistics Canada cannot commit to replying to every post, message or comment, but will engage in conversations when appropriate and as frequently as possible, in a timely manner.

If you participate in a chat session on the Chat with an Expert module:

Please do not submit your question or comment more than once. All questions and comments may be subject to review by a Statistics Canada moderator prior to posting. Participants will be notified by email if their question or comment fails to adhere to the above rules of engagement.

The experts will be responding to as many questions as possible within the time allowed. All questions that remain unanswered at the end of the session will be answered by email in the following business days. The full transcript of each chat session will be available on the website shortly after the session closes.

If you participate in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit:

Please do not submit your question or comment more than once.

The Statistics Canada experts participating in this event will be responding to as many questions as possible, within the time allocated to the AMA. Experts will not address questions or comments that are deemed offensive, inappropriate or irrelevant to the discussion topics.

Questions or comments from online users must also follow the rules of engagement established in the subreddit in which the AMA is being conducted.

Please note:

Statistics Canada respects the Official Languages Act and is committed to responding to any questions or comments in the official language (English or French) in which it was asked.